NEWS
NEWS
ENSURING VAPOUR REALLY
‘ HITS THE SPOT ’
IN LAB-BASED STUDIES By Marina Murphy , BAT
THE GREATEST SELLING POINT OF THE E-CIGARETTE CATEGORY IS THAT THESE PRODUCTS MAY IMPROVE PUBLIC HEALTH , BY REDUCING THE DEATH AND DISEASE ASSOCIATED WITH SMOKING . PROVING THE POINT WILL , HOWEVER , REQUIRE SIGNIFICANT LAB TIME , CLINICAL STUDIES AND STUDIES OF CONSUMERS .
It ’ s no surprise then that there are already a lot of studies being performed on e-cigarettes , and subsequently , lots of data being produced . As the producer of Vype , our focus is ensuring that we make the best possible products to give every smoker alternatives to cigarettes , whilst ensuring that we build data packages that substantiate the view that these products could be up to 95 % safer than smoking . Cigarettes and e-cigarettes are very different and produce very different aerosols , so we are always looking for the best possible ways of testing them . All sorts of lab-based biological tests can be used to compare smoke and vapour , from the classical tests looking at toxicity ( DNA damage , cell damage etc ) to much newer studies that mimic key events in disease processes . In many cases to date , there was no response or a substantially reduced response to Vype e-cigarette vapour in comparison to cigarette smoke in these lab-based 28 ISSUE 09 VAPOUROUND MAGAZINE tests . In some cases , the impact of Vype e-cigarette vapour is indistinguishable from that of the laboratory air where the study was conducted . Significant findings , or too good to be true ? Vapour is compositionally very different to smoke , it ’ s much less complex , containing substantially fewer components , especially in respect of the toxicants found in smoke . But what if these great results we got were simply a result of the vapour being lost in the system , absorbed to or leaked out from the tubing , and therefore did not actually reach the cells that we were assessing ( i . e . leading to us reading a blank result )?
‘ There are a lot of data being produced around the world on vapour products , and we have produced a lot of data internally and in independent labs ,’ according to my colleague James , the other Dr Murphy and Head of Risk Substantiation at British American Tobacco . ‘ When there is a partial response or no response at all , this can be interpreted as the e-cigarette vapour having a reduced biological impact compared to cigarette smoke . But we had to be sure that it was a real result and that we did not just lose the aerosol in the test system and expose our cells to air , we had to be sure that the vapour was reaching the cells ’ he said .